Marshallese phonology
Consonants Marshallese has a large consonant inventory, and each consonant has some type of secondary articulation (palatalization, velarization, or rounding). The palatalized consonants are regarded as "light", and the velarized and rounded consonants are regarded as "heavy", with the rounded consonants being both velarized and labialized. (This contrast is similar to that between "slender" and "broad" consonants in Goidelic languages, or between "soft" and "hard" consonants in Russian.) The "light" consonants are considered more relaxed articulations. The following are the consonant phonemes of Marshallese: Marshallese has no voicing contrast in consonants. However, stops may be allophonically partially voiced ( , , ) when they are between vowels and not geminated. Final consonants are often unreleased. Glides vanish in many environments, with surrounding vowels assimilating their backness and roundedness. That is motivated by the limited surface distribution of these phonemes as well as other evidence that backness and roundedness are not specified phonemically for Marshallese vowels. In fact, the consonant never surfaces phonetically but is used to explain the preceding phenomenon. ( and may surface phonetically only in word-initial and word-final positions and, even then, not consistently.) The consonant may be phonetically realized as , , , , or (or any of their voiced variants , , , , or ), in free variation. Word-internally it usually assumes a voiced fricative articulation as (or ) but not when geminated. is used to adapt foreign sibilants into Marshallese. Marshallese has no distinct phoneme. The dorsal consonants are usually velar but with the tongue a little farther back , making them somewhere between velar and uvular in articulation. All dorsal phonemes are "heavy" (velarized or rounded), and none are "light" (palatalized). As stated before, the palatal consonant articulations , , and are treated as allophones of the palatalized coronal obstruent , even though palatal consonants are physically dorsal. and are usually articulated as retroflex nasals and . Consonants , and are all coronal consonants and full trills. is similar to Spanish with a trill position on the alveolar ridge, but is a palatalized dental trill , articulated further forward behind the front teeth. The Marshallese–English Dictionary (MED) and Willson (2003) describe the rhotic consonants as "retroflex", but are not clear how this relates to their dental or alveolar trill positions. (See retroflex trill.) The heavy lateral consonants and are dark l like in English feel, articulated and respectively. The velarized consonants (and, by extension, the rounded consonants) may be velarized or pharyngealized like the emphatic consonants in Arabic or Mizrahi Hebrew. Vowels Marshallese has a vertical vowel system of just four vowel phonemes, each with several allophones depending on the surrounding consonants. MED (1976), Choi (1992) and Willson (2003) notate some Marshallese vowels differently. Choi (1992) observes only three vowel phonemes but theorizes that there may be a historical process of reduction from four to three. This article uses the notation of the MED. Superficially, 12 Marshallese vowel allophones appear in minimal pairs, a common test for phonemicity. For example, ( , 'breadfruit'), ( , 'but'), and ( , 'taboo') are separate Marshallese words. However, the uneven distribution of glide phonemes suggests that they underlyingly end with the glides (thus , , ). When glides are taken into account, it emerges that there are only 4 vowel phonemes. When a vowel phoneme appears between consonants with different secondary articulations, the vowel surfaces as a smooth transition from one vowel allophone to the other. For example, 'shy', phonemically , is realized phonetically as . It follows that there are 24 possible diphthongs in Marshallese: Some syllables appear to contain long vowels: 'future'. They are thought to contain an underlying glide ( , or ), which is not present phonetically. For instance, the underlying form of is . Although the medial glide is not realized phonetically, it affects vowel quality; in a word like , the vowel smoothly transitions from to and then back to , as . Phonotactics Syllables in Marshallese follow CV, CVC, and VC patterns. Marshallese words always underlyingly begin and end with consonants. Initial, final, and long vowels may be explained as the results of underlying glides not present on the phonetic level. Initial vowels are sometimes realized with an onglide or but not consistently: * 'weave' Only homorganic consonant sequences are allowed in Marshallese that includes geminate varieties of each consonant. Non-homorganic clusters are separated by vowel epenthesis even across word boundaries. Some homorganic clusters are also disallowed: * Obstruent-obstruent, nasal-nasal, liquid-liquid, nasal-obstruent, and nasal-liquid clusters undergo assimilation of the secondary articulation except if the first consonant is a labialized coronal or a labialized dorsal. Then, the clusters undergo assimilation of the labialized articulation. * †Obstruent-liquid and liquid-obstruent clusters besides and undergo epenthesis. * Liquid-nasal clusters undergo nasal assimilation * Obstruent-nasal clusters undergo epenthesis (if coronal) or nasal assimilation (if non-coronal) The following assimilations are created, with empty combinations representing epenthesis. | valign="top" | | valign="top" | | valign="top" | |} The vowel height of an epenthetic vowel is transitional between the two nearest vowels. Certain Westernized Marshallese placenames spell out the epenthetic vowels: * Ebeye, from earlier Eb'e'je, from * Er'i'''kub, from * Kwaj'a'lein, from * Maj'u'ro, from * Nam'o'rik, from * Om'e'lek, from (" ") * Rong'e'lap, from * Rong'e'rik, from * Uj'e'lang, from * Ul'i'ga, from * Ut'i'''rik, from This article uses parentheses in IPA pronunciations to indicate epenthetic vowels in words, as they can be omitted without affecting the meaning such as in song or in enunciated syllable breaks. Timing The short vowel phonemes and the approximant phonemes all occupy a roughly equal duration of time. Though they occupy time, the approximants are generally not articulated as glides, and Choi (1992) does not rule out a deeper level of representation. In particular, short vowels occupy one unit of time, and long vowels (for which is an approximant phoneme) are three times as long. For phonemic clarity, this article uses the IPA symbols for , for and for if they occupy time as consonants at syllable boundaries. As a matter of prosody, each consonant and vowel phonemic sequence carries one mora in length, with the exception of in sequences where the vowel carries one mora for both phonemes. All morae are thus measured in or shut sequences: * is two morae: . It is also the shortest possible length of Marshallese word. * is three morae: . Since approximants are also consonants, long vowel sequences of are also three morae. * is four morae: . * Prefixes like are sequences occupying only one mora but are attached to words rather than standing as words on their own. * Suffixes like are sequences. The syllable itself occupies two morae but adds only one mora to the word because the vowel attaches itself to the last consonant phoneme in the word, changing into . That makes Marshallese a mora-rhythmed language in a fashion similar to Finnish, Gilbertese, Hawaiian, and Japanese. Historic sound changes Marshallese consonants show splits conditioned by the surrounding Proto-Micronesian vowels. Proto-Micronesian *k *ŋ *r become rounded next to *o or next to *u except in bisyllables whose other vowel is unrounded. Default outcomes of *l and *n are palatalized; they become velarized or rounded before *a or sometimes *o if there is no high vowel in an adjacent syllable. Then, roundedness is determined by the same rule as above. References External links * Category:Language phonologies